Abstract Detail

Systematics

Goncalves, Deise [1], Ortiz, Edgardo [2], Shimizu, Gustavo [3], Jansen, Robert [4], Simpson, Beryl [5].

Biogeography of Vochysiaceae: a phylogenomic approach.

Despite the fast pace of exploration of the patterns and processes driving the diversification of Neotropical plants, the taxa explored are mostly from large, widely distributed families that are morphologically diverse, economically important and generally occur in accessible areas. Vochysiaceae is a more typical Neotropical group, a relatively small non-economically important amphitropical family. Our study develops a phylogenomic based hypothesis of species relationships in the Vochysiaceae for uncovering its taxonomy and evolutionary history through space and time. We inferred phylogenies using 78 plastid protein-coding genes of 125 species distributed in eight myrtalean families. The ordinal level phylogeny was used to include fossils of closely related families for calculating Vochysiaceae divergence time estimates. Records of species distribution were compiled from online databases and herbarium specimens and used to estimate the ancestral range of the family. The directionality of cladogenetic events was explored using biogeographic stochastic modeling. Phylogenies consistently recovered geographic structure at different taxonomic levels. Within Vochysiaceae there is a Neotropical and an Afrotropical clade. In the Neotropics, clades from the three main biomes Cerrado, Amazon, and Atlantic Forest were recovered. All the genera were supported as monophyletic, except Qualea, which was paraphyletic with Ruizterania. The most recent common ancestor of Vochysiaceae + Myrtaceae and of the Neotropical + Afrotropical lineages of Vochysiaceae lived in West Gondwana, before the complete separation of South America and Africa, ca. 101 Mya. The long history of Vochysiaceae did not result in an accumulation of species; instead, episodes of geographic range fragmentation leading to the isolation of populations seem to have played an important role in the evolutionary history of the family. Despite a wide distribution across some of the major Neotropical biomes, rare and endemic species are common, supporting vicariant speciation as the result of geographic range reduction. The Cerrado was shown to be the ancestral area of Neotropical genera with independent events of colonization into surrounding biomes. Subsequently, an ancestor that lived in the Amazon colonized Central America. Recolonization of the Cerrado happened at least three times. Our findings do not support a previous biogeographic hypothesis of a long-distance dispersal event generating the African genera and provide a different perspective in the debate regarding the role of vicariance and dispersal in the Neotropics.

1 - University of Texas at Austin, Integrative Biology, 205 W. 24th St. Stop C0930, Austin, TX, 78712, USA
2 - Technical University of Munich, Department of Ecology & Ecosystem Management, Plant Biodiversity Research, Emil-Ramann Strasse 2, Freising, D-85354, Germany
3 - University of Campinas, Department of Plant Biology, Campinas, SP, 13083-970, Brazil
4 - University Of Texas At Austin, Integrative Biology, 205 W. 24th St. Stop C0930, Austin, TX, 78712, United States
5 - The University Of Texas At Austin, Integrative Biology, 205 West 24th St., Mail Stop C0930, Austin, TX, 78713.0, United States

Keywords:
Neotropical
Afrotropical
disjunction
vicariance
dispersal
West Gondwana.

Presentation Type: Oral Paper
Session: COOL1, ASPT Cooley Award Talks
Location: Tucson C/Starr Pass
Date: Tuesday, July 30th, 2019
Time: 9:00 AM
Number: COOL1005
Abstract ID:617
Candidate for Awards:George R. Cooley Award